


Chemistry

by DreamsOfSleep



Category: New Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Oneshot, moderate smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 17:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7471992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsOfSleep/pseuds/DreamsOfSleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate ending for S1, Ep8 “Bad In Bed.” </p><p>Sometimes it’s not you, it’s the one you’re with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chemistry

“I need help, Nick,” Jess said pitifully into the phone. “But I need you to promise you won’t laugh. Or tell anyone. Ever. It’s super embarrassing.”

“Is it a girl thing? Because then I’m out…Why don’t you ask Cece?” 

“She’s at a modeling shoot and I have a date with Paul in one hour. Can you come into my room and help me? I’m kind of…stuck.”

He gives her a big put-upon sigh. “Fine.” 

He puts his phone on his nightstand and gets up from his bed to go to her room. When he opens the door to her room, he sees her standing in the middle of it in just her bra and underwear with this weird ropey starfish getup on. The look on her face is just so miserable and pathetic that he can’t even laugh at her even though it’s really funny. He remembers how he felt after she laughed at him after walking in on him naked and he doesn’t want to make her feel the same way.

“I’ll get the scissors,” he said.

\---

He carefully cuts her out of the strange lingerie.

“Thanks, Nick,” she breathes out in relief once it is finally off. “Promise you won’t tell anybody? Not even Schmidt or Winston?”

“I don’t think we want to be that close, Jess…I won’t tell them. Promise.”

He’s sitting next to her on her bed and she’s still in just her bra and underwear. “You know you don’t have to do all that, Jess,” he says, carefully looking at her face. “Guys aren’t that complicated. Just take off your clothes.”

She covers her face with her hands. “The first time with Paul was awful, Nick. I haven’t had sex with anyone but Spencer in six years. Maybe I forgot how to do it right; maybe I never did. Schmidt is probably right; I’m bad in bed. That’s why Spencer cheated on me.”

“Spencer cheated on you because he’s a douchebag, Jess…that’s not on you. Plus, the first time with someone new is always awkward. I bet Paul feels the same way.”

“You can’t be any worse than me,” Nick jokes self-deprecatingly.

She takes her hands off her face and they end up staring into each other’s eyes. They know that they’re both thinking about what Schmidt and Winston said earlier in the day about each of them being ‘bad in bed.’ She sees a flicker of something in his eyes and it intrigues her.

“Can you…help me, Nick?” she blurts out. “Tell me what I’m doing wrong…”

He furrows his brow at her because this seems like something that Sleeping Nick would dream up, but it doesn’t feel like he’s asleep. She usually wears that red sundress in his dreams, the one she was wearing that first day he met her. He’s been in love with her since the moment she walked through the door but he thinks he’s done a pretty good job at hiding it from her. He definitely didn’t think he would get a chance to sleep with her, especially not this early when they barely even know each other, or ever. He didn’t think she was even interested in him as more than just a friend, even though she’s never been just ‘a friend’ to him and he’s always been attracted to her.

“It would just be…research,” she finishes lamely.

“Right…research,” he echoes back to her, his voice carefully neutral. 

Now that it’s out there, they are both insanely curious but also feel extremely vulnerable about opening up this can of worms.

He licks his lips nervously and he sees her eyes flick down to his mouth before looking back up into his eyes. They start leaning into each other and he cups her face and kisses her gently on the lips before pulling back from her uncertainly. Her hands are resting on the back of his neck and she pulls him in to kiss her again. They just spend a few minutes kissing, their hands exploring each other’s bodies tentatively. For some reason it doesn’t feel awkward; they can both feel that spark of mutual attraction. It starts getting hot and heavy and he pushes her back on to the bed. 

He pulls back from her, panting. “Are you sure about this, Jess?” She nods and pulls him back down towards her again. He reaches behind her and unhooks her bra, pushing the straps down her arms. She reaches down and grasps the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it up over his head. He’s pushing her underwear down her legs and she’s helping him undo his pants and pushing them down with his boxers. They are finally both naked together, lying together skin to skin. He pulls back to look into her eyes. His hand strokes her cheek tenderly. He touches her like they’ve done this before but that’s weird; he’s just her guy roommate and she’s only been in the loft for a couple of months. It makes her think about alternate lives they could have lived, but then he kisses her again and her mind blissfully wipes blank, focusing on that delicious sensation. He’s a great kisser; she thinks all the other women who got to kiss him before her are lucky and he shouldn’t be as self-conscious about himself as he is. He should be the one breaking hearts and not the other way around. A girl could really fall in love with someone who kisses her like this.

He’s an intense kind of guy in real life, so he’s an intense kind of guy in bed too. He looks into her face the entire time, makes sure it’s good for her, gets her to relax when she tenses up. He makes her feel comfortable and safe. She’s usually meek in bed, finds it hard to ask for what she wants, but she rises to meet him because he doesn’t make her feel insecure about herself. He’s acting like he’s really into her and makes her feel like everything she’s doing is the right thing. She takes control and flips him over on to his back. She likes that pleased look of surprise that passes over his face when she does that. Then she makes sure it feels good for him too. 

She’s really sorry she laughed at him and made him feel bad about himself. She didn’t mean anything by it; it was just a nervous tic. She actually really likes his body. It’s firm and soft in all the right places. A body that makes you think ‘boyfriend material’ in the way it feels strong like it can help you lift heavy things but is also gentle enough to wrap around you, hugging you close, making you feel safe and warm, loved. She thinks fleetingly about what it would be like to cuddle up next to him on lazy Sunday mornings. For some reason even though he’s really grumpy a lot of the time, he seems like a cuddler to her. 

He releases into her first and that seems to push her over the edge as well. He holds her to him, trying to catch his breath and listening to her try to catch hers. She gets off of him and lies down next to him on the bed. He feels an acute sense of loss. He wants to keep touching her, wants to cuddle up with her and hold her against him, but that feels like it would be too intimate so he pushes the impulse down. He doesn’t know what this was so he doesn’t think he’s allowed to do that.

They are both staring up at the ceiling unsure of what to say to each other. Ironically, it wasn’t awkward during the act, but it’s definitely awkward now. They both thought that it had been amazing, but neither of them want to look at each other in case the other person didn’t think so. They don’t know what’s supposed to happen now and Jess is still supposed to go on that date with Paul in about half an hour.

“Well…that happened,” Jess says to break the awkward silence.

Nick turns his head to look at her. “I think you were just too in your head the first time, Jess…You were really great.”

She turns her head to look at him. “Right back atcha, Miller,” she grins.

He smiles at that. It gives him a nice little ego boost; he can’t remember the last time a girl actually said that to him. He actually thinks it was all her, not him at all, but it’s still nice to hear.

He thinks about the no-nail oath that Schmidt made him sign and how this could really ruin things in the loft and how he doesn’t want either of them to have to move out, so he says, “This can just be sex, Jess. A one-time thing…‘research’ like you said. Go have fun with Paul,” even though it makes his heart hurt.

She kisses him on the cheek. “Thanks, Nick. You really made me feel better about myself.”

He gets dressed and leaves her room so she can get ready for her date with Paul.

\---

Paul is knocking at the door and she goes to answer it. She’s wearing a new red wrap dress, all dressed to the nines for that fancy restaurant Paul is taking her to. As she leaves with Paul, she turns to look back into the loft and Nick is sitting on the couch staring after her with an unreadable expression.

\---

When she’s on her date with Paul and even though he’s being really sweet, she can’t stop thinking about Nick the entire time. She doesn’t want to sleep with Paul again, even though she thinks she should. Paul and her should make sense together but for some reason they don’t. All that stuff that should be easy for them is just really hard. He’s a nice guy, someone that checks off a lot of her boxes of ‘ideal boyfriend’ in her life plan, but there’s no fire or heat between them; no chemistry. She reaches across the table and takes Paul’s hand in hers. 

“I’m sorry, Paul. I don’t think this is working out. I just want to be friends,” she says to him. 

Paul gives her a sad smile. “Guess we were better as just friends. No hard feelings, Jess.”

He drives her home. 

\---

When she gets home to the loft, she knocks on Nick’s closed bedroom door. When he opens it, she sees him look behind her and then back at her questioningly. 

“It didn’t work out,” she says.

“Sorry, Jess,” he says to her. “I know you really liked him.”

“I did like him; there was just no chemistry.”

Her hand reaches out to stroke his cheek and he blinks at her. Then she’s leaning in to kiss him and he’s pulling her into his room and they show each other what it means to be good in bed all over again.


End file.
